Deals of the day- Mergers and acquisitions

May 15 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday:

** Deutsche Bank has struck a deal to sell its casino complex in Las Vegas to buyout group Blackstone for $1.73 billion in cash, drawing a line under an unwanted investment that has weighed on its balance sheet for years.

** The French government gave itself the power to block foreign corporate takeovers in "strategic" sectors, throwing up a potential roadblock to General Electric's $16.9 billion bid for Alstom's energy assets.

** French electrical gear maker Schneider Electric said it has accepted an offer from private equity groups The Carlyle Group and PAI Partners for its sensors business in a deal based on an enterprise value of $900 million.

** U.S. medical devices company Boston Scientific on Thursday agreed to buy Bayer AG's vascular catheter business for $415 million to widen its range of devices to treat clogged blood vessels.

** The Dutch Gemini offshore wind farm project signed a three billion euro ($4.1 billion) construction deal with a consortium led by Siemens.

** Erich Kellerhals, the minority owner and founder of Media-Saturn Holding GmbH, has made a new offer to buy back Europe's biggest electronics chain from German retailer Metro AG , alongside other investors, he was quoted as saying on Thursday.

** Slovenia has asked potential buyers of its largest telecoms operator Telekom Slovenia to submit non-binding bids by the start of June, state investment fund SOD said on Thursday.

** Deutsche Telekom is not in any talks about a potential merger, the company told its shareholders on Thursday.

** Hospital operator Kindred Healthcare Inc went hostile with its $533 million offer for Gentiva Health Services Inc on Thursday, after Gentiva rejected the bid saying it expected to generate more value as a standalone provider of home healthcare services.

** U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, which has made a $106 billion bid approach to British peer AstraZeneca, has not discussed the proposed deal with European Union regulators, the region's antitrust chief said on Thursday.

Pfizer's potential takeover of AstraZeneca poses a threat to British science unless the U.S. drugmaker can give more concrete, enforceable guarantees on jobs and investment, politicians scrutinizing the deal said on Thursday.

** AT&T Inc is working with investment bank Lazard Ltd as it negotiates a potential takeover of DirecTV , the top U.S. satellite TV operator, according to people familiar with the matter.

** America Movil has submitted its offer to buy the shares of Telekom Austria that the Mexican telecoms giant or its partner, Austrian state holding company OIAG, do not already own.

** A joint venture between Britain's Centrica and Qatar Petroleum has agreed to buy a number of Canadian natural gas assets from Shell for C$50 million ($45.85 million)in the entity's first joint acquisition since it was created a year ago.

** The French government has issued a decree allowing it to block foreign takeovers of French firms in "strategic" sectors, throwing up a potential roadblock to General Electric's $16.9 billion bid for Alstom's energy assets.

** Wilmar International Ltd and First Pacific Co Ltd sweetened a takeover offer for Goodman Fielder Ltd to about A$1.37 billion ($1.28 billion), after the Australian food firm rejected an earlier bid as too low.

** China's CITIC Pacific Ltd said it had secured $5.1 billion to help fund the purchase of some $36 billion in assets from its state-owned parent company, as strategic investors lined up to give the landmark deal their blessing.

** Democratic members of the Federal Communications Commission may be divided over how they view the possible Sprint Corp merger with T-Mobile US Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

** Bank of Nova Scotia said on Wednesday that it would explore options to divest itself of some or all of its 37 percent stake in asset manager CI Financial and redeploy the capital elsewhere.

** Louisiana-Pacific Corp has backed away from its planned takeover of Ainsworth Lumber Co, blaming the split on demands for more asset sales from Canadian and U.S. regulators, the companies said on Wednesday.

** Insurer American International Group on Wednesday said it had completed the sale of its aircraft leasing unit to AerCap Holdings, marking the end of years of efforts to sell International Lease Finance Corp.